Nord Electro 3

NORD ELECTRO 3
Performance Keyboard
LIST PRICE: $2,499.00

Nord has become synonymous with quality for their great sounding keyboards. Some of the company’s products focus on specific sounds—such as pianos, synths or organs—but the latest addition to the Nord Electro family might just have the quality and diversity to convince you to condense everything into just one unit.

For the Electro 3, the Swedish company uses its trademark flare, housing the unit in the red-on-red design that is standard for Nord products. The Electro series of keyboards, available in 61-key and 73-key sizes, have been consistent workhorses for touring and recording artists for years. Typically, Electros are utilized more often for their organ tones than piano sounds. However, the piano gets a noticeable push with the new piano libraries (originally designed for the Nord Stage), which can be easily downloaded and installed for the Electro 3. The unit also features eight times the RAM as the previous model (Electro 2), which ensures that use of the large sample files will not be compromised.

The Electro 3’s piano sounds are crisp and full bodied, and go well beyond the requirements for any Open Mic night. Right away, the attack jumped out with enough character for serious studio applications. Not only are there more sample options, but Nord has improved the effects section to help you zero in on the right tone with five different reverb algorithms, a three-band EQ featuring a sweepable mid-range, and a compressor that can be added at the end of the audio chain.

The mainstay organ sounds get some help from the C1 Rotary Speaker Emulator. The Rotary Stop Mode allows you to start and stop the rotation with either the controls or with a foot pedal, which immediately adds a more realistic element to the feel when using the B3 patch. Another exciting new addition to the Electro 3 is access to Mellotron and Chamberlin libraries, with additional sounds downloadable for free. (Don’t bother resisting the temptation of playing “Strawberry Fields.” Get that 10 minutes of bliss out of the way and move on to all the other fun toys in the grab bag.) For more nostalgia, try out the Farfisa Compact Deluxe or the Vox Continental, two samples that cut through a mix as delicately as a chainsaw. No doubt, the B3 tone is the standard by which the Electro series will be judged, though the other sounds and features really step up in this model.

Nord has also added a practice feature to the Electro 3. A monitor input gives you the ability to plug in an MP3 (or any other audio device with an eighth-inch stereo input) and monitor through the headphone output, making it that much easier to rehearse or work out arrangements without involving extra equipment.

The Electro 3 is touted for its portability, and though the claim sounded comical at first, moving other large keyboards around showed off how lightweight the Electro 3 is in comparison. And, despite its relative weight, no part of the keyboard feels cheap or poorly designed. The Electro 3 continues to expand the prestigious lineage of the series and warrants a serious look.

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